engleski

Children's exposure to environmental pollutants and biomarkers of genetic damage: review and meta-analysis

In the framework of the project European Network on children susceptibility and exposure to environmental genotoxicants (CHILDRENGENONETWORK) a review was performed to identify molecular epidemiology studies conducted among children exposed to chemical environmental pollutants incorporating biomarkers of genetic damage. After an extensive MEDLine/PubMed search( time period 1980-2004) 178 publications were retrived ; 10 additional papers were manually identified. Among the cytogenetic biomarkers, chromosome aberrations and micronuclei but not sister chromatid exchanges ( confirmed in meta-analysis in newborns) were consistently increased in exposed children. The effect of exposure to airborne urban pollutants was consistently reported by field studies measuring DNA, albumin and haemoglobin adducts. Meta-anylses performed in children exposed to ETS and in newborns exposed in utero to maternal smoke showed 1.3 and 7 times higher levels of haematoglobin adducts compared to referents, respectively. The limited number of studies measuring DNA fragmentation (comet assay) , HPRT and GPA mutation frequency precluded a meaningful evaluation of the usefulness of these assays. Higher levels of PAH-DNA adducts were found in fetal than in maternal tissue, suggesting a specific susceptibility of the fetus to these pollutants. In conclusion, future research and biomonitoring programs on children would greatly benefit from the inclusion of selected biomarkers that could provide biologically based evidence for the identification of intervention priorities in environmental health.

chromosome aberration; children

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